Anything spoken with a strong conviction makes a lasting impression on the minds of the passive listeners. Anything spoken with a doubt or devoid of a strong conviction in the mind of the speaker is identified subconsciously by the listeners and they too do not take it up seriously. History is full of examples of such leaders with 100% conviction in their ideology, even though it was flawed or evil one, who attracted millions of listeners who blindly followed them as they were pulled by their conviction above anything else.
The conviction dwelling in the mind of the leader becomes the conviction of the followers as they are devoid of any such strong conviction in their own life. The leader usually has a grand vision which he/she very clearly portrays in the minds of the passive listeners. The listeners themselves confused/unclear about their future, seek solace in this grand vision and become an active co-creator helping the leader manifest this grand vision –even if that vision requires murdering of millions of other innocent people usually identified by some specific religion/skin color/belief/nationality/race etc. Thus, the otherwise non-violent innocent individual identifies himself/herself as an important part of the truth/vision shared by the leader and becomes totally blind to his/her own thinking/beliefs/sensitivities/truths thereby losing his/her individuality.
History repeats itself! Because of this pattern of the power of conviction in so-called truth/vision of one leader, the lives of millions of beings are affected on both sides of the fence – those who invest their faith in this truth/vision as well as those on the receiving end! Turn back the pages of history and you will find great battles for truth being fought as well as gruesome genocides that happened due to the power of the conviction of just one leader.
This is the same with the group psychology. One non-violent innocent person can lose his/her identity/truth/beliefs when he/she becomes part of a group (fuelled by some kind of anger or hatred) and can act violently-insanely in a manner he/she alone can not even imagine. Such fanatic groups formed under religious/political/nationalist/racist motives are most violent and gruesome, while they assume actually doing a good service for the leader or for the cause for which the group was formed. Sometimes a group without any human leader can have a common cause giving them the much needed strong conviction that was missing in their own individual mind. Those with strong individuality and conviction in their own truths find it difficult to become part of any such groups and are usually systematically marginalized by the masses.
So, while in a group, be aware of your own individuality and your own truths before your mind becomes submissive to the group psychology and your individuality fades away.
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